Here, at ESF, we think getting ‘football fit’ is often the most neglected part of the game when it comes to young players of all abilities. Getting into proper shape for football often means employing a combination of training methods and fair amount of effort! Good football fitness training usually covers a few vital areas that we cover in this post.
Every player, should look to practice their agility, speed, power and overall fitness. A ‘good engine’ takes a lot of work on the training pitch to develop. However, with these tips and tricks you should be making those lung-bursting box to box runs in no time at all!
Football Speed Training
Every football player should work on their speed. Nowadays, quick players make better players. Being quick on the football pitch is very different to the athletics track though. You can work on it!
Here are some of the main differences when thinking about football pace.
- Off the ball, football speed often means being first to react.
- On the ball, being quick off the mark is often the differences between beating a player and being tackled.
- Most ‘actions’ such as heading, shooting, tackling will have to be done at speed.
- Sprinting may have to occur even when you’re ‘blowing’!
With these points in mind good drills should reflect this.
- On the turn sprints
- Dribbling at Speed (30 metres)
- Floor Ladders
Football Endurance Training
Don’t panic! This section isn’t going to include any 15 kilometre jogs. In a football match, you’re constantly stopping and starting so to get yourself fit for a whole game you’re better off with regular sprints over 10 – 100 metres with a small rest in between each.
Here’s a few potential drills:
15-25 minutes of different paced running drills. The coach will tell you how long to do each sprint, jog and walk. The whole drill takes place in one half of a pitch.
Pass and Sprint Drills – There’s loads of good pass and sprint drills out there so have a look. For example, two players could stand 20 metres apart and pass the ball to each other. Having passed the ball they have to turn and sprint to a cone and back, then hit another pass. Have a short break and then repeat.
A good drill combining every skill could be to do 10 press ups, 10 squats, a jog to the centre circle in order to collect the ball then dribble at full pace to the penalty area and shoot. Do this 5 times with a recovery after every shot.
Maintaining Football Fitness
Ultimately, experts say the best way to maintain your fitness for football is to get a solid amount of game time! So, why not book you and your team into one of our prestigious football tournaments? Actually, even so early on in the season, the ESF festival in Skegness on 29 April – 2 May 2016 is already filled!
However, we still have availability for boys and girls football teams of all abilities who want to keep ‘football fit’ at the ESF Skegness on 22-25 April 2016! So, whether you’re a team based in Blackpool, Southport, Sunderland or further afield it’s not too late to join us with your team. We’re sure you’ll be thanking us come next seasons pre-season!
